By: Roxie Graham-Marski Posted at: 02/07/2013 01:15 PM SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) - A judge has entered a not guilty plea on behalf of a trucker who was charged for his role in a crash that killed a family in western Nebraska.

Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub says 36-year-old Josef Slezak appeared in court on Thursday. Schaub says Slezak stood mute when asked for a plea, so a judge entered a not-guilty plea.

Slezak is charged with four counts of manslaughter, four counts of motor vehicle homicide, and one count of motor vehicle homicide of an unborn child.

Authorities say Slezak caused a September crash on Interstate 80, about 40 miles east of the Wyoming border. The crash killed Christopher Schmidt, his wife Diana Schmidt, and the couple's two young children. Diana Schmidt was 30 weeks pregnant at the time.